Happy Aphelion

From apod:

Perihelion and Aphelion
Credit & Copyright: Enrique Luque Cervigón

Explanation: This year Aphelion, the point in Earth's elliptical orbit when it is farthest from the Sun, occurs today, July 4th. Of course, that doesn't affect the seasons on our fair planet. Those are determined by the tilt of Earth's axis of rotation and not Earth's distance from the Sun, so July is still winter in the south and summer in northern hemisphere. But it does mean that on July 4th the Sun will be at its smallest apparent size. This composite neatly compares two pictures of the Sun taken with the same telescope and camera on the dates of Perihelion (closest approach) and Aphelion in 2008. The image labels include Earth's distance in kilometers from the Sun on the two dates. Otherwise difficult to notice, the change in the Sun's apparent diameter between Perihelion and Aphelion is clear. The difference amounts to a little over 3 percent.

Awwwwwwww, Darn... Pass the Cheetos

Junk food even has negative impact on cockroaches

Attorneys for the junk food industry have suggested that the tests were unfair and a distortion of the true nutritional value they provide to humans and cockroaches alike. Not really, but it wouldn't surprise anyone if they did. LiveScience:

To find out, Moore and her colleagues picked young female cockroach nymphs and divided them into two dietary groups. Half were fed a good-quality balanced diet of protein-rich fish food and high-carbohydrate oatmeal, while the rest were raised on fish food only.

Both groups were allowed to eat as much as they wanted. The difference in diets "was not quantity but variety," Moore said.

After the last molt, when the nymphs became adults, the team switched the diets of some animals. Half of the cockroaches raised with good quality diet lost their oatmeal, while half of the bugs fed poorly were promoted to a good-quality diet.

Eighteen days after the switch, the diet control ended and some of the surviving cockroaches were dissected. The rest were allowed to live on and reproduce.

The results: While the lifespan of the members of both groups was about the same, the cockroaches on the poor diet were fatter and took longer to mature.

For the Non-Believers,... Ho Town Does Indeed Exist

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